Combination wheeled chair and crutch



P 1938- N. G. BowsER 2,129,260

COMBINATION wnmsman cmm AND CRUTCH Filed Jan. 9, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 [MG-B01038? Sept. 6, 1938-. N. G. BowsER 2,129,250

COMBINATION WHEELED CHAIR {\ND CRUTCH Filed Jan. 9, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 MC 'CBozu-ser Patented Sept. 6. 1938 COMBINATION WHEELED CHAIR AND CRUTCH Norma G. Bowser, Leandro, Calif. Application January 9, 193?, Serial No. 119,867

4 Claims.

This invention relates to devices for supporting invalids and particularly to a combined chair and pair of crutches. v

The general object of the invention is to provide a structure of the character stated which includes a chair having a foldable seat andforwardly extending arm-rest-supporting frame members, and which includes a pair of crutches extending upward from the framev members so that an invalid may either sit or walk and be entirely supported, when walking, against accidental falling or slipping.

Anotherobject is to provide a structure of this character in which the crutches may be either turned to an upwardly extending' position for use as crutches or turned down toan inoperative position when thestructure is intended to be used merely as a chair. This construction also permits the crutches tobe shifted nearer to or further from each other at their upper ends so as to fit the crutches to a particular invalid.

A further object is to provide a structure of this character which is convertible from a chair to a support for the invalid while walking or vice versa.

, Still another object is to provide acrutch structure which is adjustable as toheight and in which the crutches are adjustable toward or from each other. I

A still further object is to provide a structure of this character having a floor brake applied to it so that it may be held against accidental move ment on its wheels.

' may be slipped rearward or placed beneath the.

- apart for packing or shipping purposes an A further object is to provide a foot rest which may be mounted upon theside rails of the chair structure forward of the seat when the patient is in a resting position but which may be readily removed when the patient desires to walk and chair portion of the supporting frame.

Still another object is to provide a structure of this character which may be readily taken hich may be as readily re-assembled. 7

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.v

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved structure.

Figure 2 is a fragmentaryvertical section through the telescopic tubular members constituting the crutch and through one of the hand rip Y I Figure 3 is a section on the line H of Fig- .ure 2.

Figure 4 is an elevation of one of the hand grips and a section through the conjoined tubular members. 5

Figure 5 is 'a detail elevation of a portion of the frame and the upper portion of the brake, the guide flange being shown in section.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary section on the line 6--8 of Figure 5. 10

Figure 'l is a section through the lowermost rails and showing in elevation the foot rest. t

Figure 8 .is a fragmentary sectional view through one of the legs and one of the longitudinal members of the frame showing the manner 1-5 in which the parts of the" frame are joined to each other. 1

Referring to these drawings, it will be seen that my chair-crutch structure includes two parallel side frames. Each of the side frames is formed preferably of pipe having an internal diameter of approximately though, of course,

I do not wish to be limited to this. Each frame comprises a horizontal element 10,. downwardly extending rear legs H and downwardly extendwith the interiorly screw-threaded ends of the pipe section it. .The' lower ends of the legs H and i2 are connected by means of the longitudinally extending pipe sections 18 which are also 40 detachably held in engagement with these legs by the same means as previously described. The opposed side frames'are connected to each other at their rear by a lower pipe section l9 and an upper pipe section 20. These also are held in engagement with the rear legs ll bymeans of screws 20 extending through the legs and having screw-threaded engagement with the pipe sections l8 and 20. A brace 2| is clipped at 22 to the cross-bar I9 and the ends of this brace 59 are curved laterally and 'forwardly and clipped to the longitudinally extending bars or pipe sections l8 by means of the clips 23.

-While I have described a particular means for connecting the legs to each other and the side sections of the frame to each other by means of the screws l1 and 20 and by means of the- L's I5, I do not wish to be limited to this particular connecting means as other connecting means might be used. The purpose, however, is to provide a simple means whereby the frame sections may be readily taken apart for packing or readily i e-assembled.

Supported upon the side bars l6 as, for instance, by a transverse brace24 is a seat 25 which may be made of plywood or other suitable mate} rial and may be cushioned or not, as desired. Coacting with the seat is a plywood back 25 which is supported on the frame in any suitable manner and may be supported upon the transverse bar 20. The seat 25 is hinged with relation to the back so that the seat may be turned up against or parallel to the back. Thus the seat may be hinged to the lower end of the back in an obvious manner or the cross-bar 24 may be used as a pivot bar rotatably engaged with the frame member l6 and rotated upon this pivot bar. The rear ends of the rails it carry upon them the padded arm rests 26. I

Surrounding the forward portions of the frame members [0 are pipe sections 2'! and extending up from each of these pipe sections or tubes 21 are the vertical tubular members 28 which are spaced from each other and which are open at their upper ends. Coacting with each pair of these tubular members 28 are the legs 29 of an armpit rest or crutch head 30. There are two of these crutch heads, each of them padded and each having the depending legs 29 which may be made of tubular stock and these legs 29 are telescopically engaged with the tubular. members 28 so that the crutch heads 30 may be adjusted to a lower or a higher position to fit the height of the person using the combination chaircrutch. It will be seen that the heads 30 with the legs 29 constitute in effect a pair of crutches. For the purpose of holding these legs 29 in adjusted position, I may split the upper end of each tubular member 28 and I weld to this tubular member the collar 3|, as shown in detail in Fig. 2, having the outwardly projecting ears 32' through which a screw 33 passes.

up upon these collars, the crutch legs 29 may be held in any adjusted position. While I have illustrated a particular means for holding this arm rest in its adjusted positions, I do not wish to be limited thereto as other means, suchas ordinary set screws, might be used for this purpose. Inasmuch, however, as the entire weight of the person will come on the crutches at times, means should beprovided which will firmly hold the crutches in their adjusted positions without any possibility of the arm rest slipping.

In conjunction with. the crutches, of course,-

I provide hand-holds or hand grips. These are designated 34 and each comprises a padded crossbar preferably of wood having attached thereto the split collars 35 which embrace the tubular members 28 and are held firmly in adjusted position' thereon by the screws 36. Here again, it-is necessary that a firm engagement should be secured between the hand grips 34 and the tubular members 28 as a portion of the weight of the person using the device will come upon these hand grips.

It will be seen from Fig. 1 that the crutche formed of the parts 28, 29 and 30 may be either By tightening rail Hi, this being the position normally occupied by the crutches when the patient is using the structure as a chair. The crutches are held in their vertical position against rotary movement on the frame members III. by means of metallic straps or equivalent elements 31, the lower ends of these straps being attached to the corresponding longitudinal tubular section or bar It. There are two of these straps 31 for each crutch and each strap 31 at its upper end is formed to surround the extremity of the tubular member 21 as at 38 and'be tightly engaged therewith by means of screws having the operating handles 39. It will be noted' that by loosening these embracing portions 38, the crutches may be shifted away from each other or towards each other to thus adjust the crutches to suit the person using the structure. In 'order to connect the forward ends of the members l0 so that the frame will not spread at its forward ends, I provide a gate rod 40 hinged at 4| to one of the members l2 and having a hook at its other end engageable in a keeper 42 carried by the other leg member i2. This gate bar 40 is raised or lowered to allow the patient to enter and is then again engaged with the keeper 42 when the patient has entered. This keeps the frame from spreading when weight is applied thereto.

It is desirable to provide means whereby the chair may be held from rolling on the floor when the patient is seated and if the patient so desires. To this end, I provide a. vertically disposed brake rod 43', the upper end of this brake rod extending through the angularly disposed I end 44 of a plate 45 riveted or btherwise attached to one of the frame members [0.

The angular portion 44 of this plate is slotted at 46 for the passage of the brake rod. The brake rod passes through a guide 41 mounted upon the forward end of the corresponding member I6 and through a guide 48 mounted upon the forward portion of the member l8. The lower end of the brake rod carries a foot 49 preferably having a rubber face 50 and a retractible spring 51 which is engaged with the guide 48 and with the lower end of the rod 43 urges the brake block and the bar upward. The upper end of the rod is widened and formedwith a notch 52 having an inwardly beveled upper wall. A spring 53 attached to a depending bracket 54 urges the bar '43 forward. The upper end of the bar 43 is prothe slot 45 and thus will hold the brake in a depressed and floor-engaging position. When it is desired to reach the brake, it is pulled back against the action of the spring 53, whereupon the spring 5| will urge it upward in released position.

Adapted to be mounted upon the rails or frame members i8 is a foot rest designated generally 56, which comprises a padded board having attached to its underface the spring clips 51. These fit over the rails l8; Thme clips are U-: shaped and have their arms resiliently urged towards each other, thus permitting the foot rest to be readily removed from or placed upon the rails l8 and also permitting the foot rest to he slid backward or forward from an operative position to a position beneath .the seat. when the patient is walking, the foot rest may be positioned at the rear under the folded chair, and when the patient is sitting, of course, thefoot rest may be readily placed in advance of the chair.

It will be seen that I haveprovided a struc ture which is particularly adapted for invalids who are unable to support themselves and who would receive only uncertain support from ordinary crutches. With this structure, the patient can move around the room or even along a porch or sidewalk and can rest-at any time he desires. The patient is given a full support by the crutches when he is walking and cannot fall sidewise-nor is there any danger of a crutch slipping as is often the case with ordinary crutches.

I have referred to the wheels l3 as being swivelled. This is true with regard to the forward wheels but preferably the rear wheels will be stationary, though I do not wish to be limited to this. By reason of the swivelling of the forward wheels, the chair may be easily guided from place to place by a patient.

It will be seen that this structure is particularly adapteclfor invalids who can only partially walla, because of the fact that the patient is supported against any tendency to fall and also because of the fact that the arm rests of the crutches are adjustable, thus a patient at first need not bear any weight on his feet at all, but the feet merely act as a propulsive means and then as the patient becomes stronger, the arm rests may be lowered little by little so as to permit more and more weight to be borne by the feet of the patient and this may be done without the patient really knowing that he is supporting more weight on his feet. The structure gives confidence tov the patient and permits him to exercisehis legs and feet without the fear which so many weak patients have of falling over.

While I have illustrated certain detailsof construction and a certain definite arrangement of parts which, in actual practice, have been found to be particularly worthwhile, yet I do not wish to be limited to these deails except as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:-

1. A supporting structure of the character described, including laterally disposed frames formed to provide legs, the frames being operatively connected to each other in spaced relation, wheels engaged with the lower ends of said legs, a seat and back supported upon said frame, each frame including upper longitudinally extending elements, a tubular section rotatively engaged with each of said last named frame elements for swinging movement around the longitudinal axes of the respective elements and carrying upwardly extending tubular members, crutch heads having depending legs telescopically engaged with, the tubular members, means for clamping the crutch heads in vertically adjusted position, hand grips engaging the tubular members and having means whereby they may be clamped in vertically adjusted position thereon,

and means for clamping the tubular elements \upon said longitudinally extending frame members in adjusted position, the crutches formed by the tubular members and the crutch heads being thus adjustable toward or from each other or adapted to be turned to a depending position.

2. A supporting" device of the character described, including parallel laterally disposed frames operatively connected to each other in spaced relation, the frames including laterally spaced longitudinally extending parallel elements, a pairfiof tubular members mounted upon each element for rotation in a vertical plane transverse to the longitudinal axes of the elements, pipe sections extending upward from each tubular element, crutch heads having depending legs telescopically adjustable within said pipe sections, means for clamping the depending legs in vertically adjusted positions, and hand grips adjustably mounted upon the pipe sections for movement toward or from the arm rests.

3. A wheeled'chair, including parallel laterally disposed side frames operatively connected to each other in spaced relation, each frame including longitudinally extending horizontal rails constituting arm rests, a back mounted upon the rear ends of said frames, a foldable seat associated with the back and disposed entirely below the arm rests, crutches mounted upon the forward ends of the horizontal rails disposed forward of said seat and mounted upon the rails for lateral swinging movement in a vertical plane from an upstanding position to an entirely depending position, the crutches being vertically adjustable relative to the rails upon which they are mounted, and vertically adjustable hand holds on the crutches. V 4. A wheeled chair, including parallel latervally disposed side frames operatively connected to each other in spaced relation, each frame including'longitudinally extending horizontal rails constituting arm rests, a back mounted upon the rear ends of said frames, 9. foldable seat associated with the back and disposed below the nor izontal rails, tubular sleeves mounted upon the forward ends of the rails for rotation therearound, clamps for holding the tubular sleeves in any rotatably adjusted position, vertically adjustable crutches including vertical members extending upward from said tubular sleeves, and hand holds mounted upon the crutches for vertical adjustment, said members terminating at the tubular sleeves.

. NORMA G. BOWSER; 

